We all know what hypertension (high blood pressure) means.

A person is said to have high blood pressure when his or her systolic and diastolic pressure rises. A normal systolic and diastolic pressure respectively is 120 ± 20, 80 ± 10.

Blood pressure rises with age and with the incidence of cardiovascular disease. Superimposing environmental factors also contribute to the same.

Other predisposing factors are weight, family history blood cholesterol, diabetes mellitus, smoking and alcohol abuse.

Pregnancy, renal diseases, endocrine diseases and drug abuse can also cause hypertension.

These days, even children visit a doctor with the symptoms of hypertension. Why is that?

The reason is very clear. Lack of physical exercise, eating junk food and a stressful life are three basic reasons why children fall sick very often. Changes in the climate pattern and increased pollution trigger many diseases.

But with the change in some living habits, one must be vigilant enough to take care of him/herself and ensure a healthy living.

Here are a few changes we can adopt in our life style and decrease the risk of being hypertensive.

1) Diet:

• Decreasing the amount of salt intake - when our salt intake is too much for the kidneys to excrete, it is released back into the blood. Salt attracts water and leads to hypervolemia (increased blood volume) and in turn hypertension.

• Decreasing your cholesterol intake - High levels of cholesterol (especially LDL) will cause plague (calcium, fatty acid and cholesterol deposits) to build up inside arteries.

• Increase the amount of fruits and vegetables. This will help lower your cholesterol level.

• Vitamin D - is very essential to maintain your blood pressure. Deficiency of vitamin D can cause hypertension. Vitamin D inhibits rennin secretion and controls the blood volume.

2) Exercising regularly - Exercising increases your heart rate and later the arteries that carry blood tend to relax that helps lower the blood pressure. Exercise also strengthens the heart to work efficiently.

3) Avoid smoking - The nicotine in smoke leads to decreased oxygenation. Blood pressure and heart rate is increased to maintain the circulation. Nicotine also increases the damage to the cells in the circulatory system as well as increase in blood clotting.

4) Alcohol cessation - Alcohol increases the sympathetic activity stimulating the rennin angiotensin system causing hypervolemia. It also increases cortisol level and intracellular calcium level It also stimulates the vascular endothelium to release or inhibit certain enzymes for nitric oxide production. Nitric oxide leads to thickening of vessels.

5) Reducing stress - Stress affects our nervous system leading to production of vasoconstricting enzyme that raises our blood pressure. Meditation, yoga or even spending some peaceful quality time with your friends and family can help you reduce stress. If the stress is too much counseling can also be sought.

Hypertension leads to damage of the vessels which later affect the organ supplied. By taking care of our health we can avoid many complications such as stroke, heart attack, atherosclerosis and many more. Increased blood pressure can also cause blindness, heart and brain damage.

It is now that we bring a few changes in our life that can help us, instead of repenting later. We should visit our doctor if we have these symptoms

Headaches
Blurred vision
Lethargy/weakness
Sweating more than normal
Bleeding from the nose
Pain in the chest

We should never hesitate to ask our doctor any questions.

As Charles Caleb Colton had said "True friendship is like sound health; the value of it is seldom known until it be lost."